THE ROLE OF YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS IN THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND THE ASPIRATION FOR A GREATER NIGERIA

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“I pledge to Nigeria my country;

To be faithful loyal and honest,

To serve Nigeria with all my strength,

To defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory,

So help me God.”

These are the words we echo in our heart whenever we recite the National pledge as citizens of this great country; whether old, young or children. However, the youths who are beneficial corps member of the National Youth Service Corps have enormous role to play in the development and aspiration for a greater and developed Nigeria. Thus, this role cannot be under emphasized. Going by the mandate established to create a platform to raise a class of patriotic, morally and physically disciplined Nigerian youths and going by the popular aphorism, ‘youths are the muscles of a nation’; the National youth service corps (NYSC) was established in 1973, I belief in a bid to create a better Nigeria. For a better nation/Nigeria, people ought to know that the following sectors ought to be improved and taken as high priority; areas such as, education, health care delivery, agriculture, communication, infrastructure, technology, economic empowerment, poverty eradication, social services and above all national consciousness and sociocultural regeneration. It is truism however to
argue that youths who are the beneficiaries of this program in one way or the other contribute to the development of the aforementioned areas. The programme or better put, service year, which run for approximately one year is most times argued to be a waste of time. Its critics even go as far as suggesting that the scheme ought to be scrapped; this is due to the fact that, people lack an understanding of the merits embedded in the scheme. This essay, I belief will ultimately give us an understanding of the importance of the National Youth Service Corps, established to aid and improve nation building. The roles of corps members to nation building cannot be over emphasized.

Nigeria, which is often regarded as a nation, is still being regarded as a developing nation, whereas, other countries that were created the same time Nigeria was created are now being referred to as developed countries. The goal and aim of every country is to be developed. And development only occurs when the basic social, political and economic needs of citizens are fully satisfied or taken care of. It is however on this note that the N.Y.S.C was created. Youth corps members are saddled with the responsibility of lifting the nation high to a point of development that is, better Nigeria. Undoubtedly, the commitment and contribution of youth corp members to in terms of social, political and economic transformation of the nation has been tremendous.

Leadership is an important factor in the development of a nation like Nigeria. And we are of the know that, leadership factor has always been a hindrance to the development of the country, Nigeria. Leadership can be conceptualized as those attribute which a person possesses which influences other people. As part of its mission statement, the scheme was established with the ultimate goal of producing future leaders with positive national echoes, by this it means, youths corps members are expected to be equipped with those leadership attributes that in many ways will lead to national transformation and development of the country.

From the anthem which the scheme was established upon, “youths, obey the clarion call, let us lift our nation high…” and the National pledge, we can see that corps members that are involved in this service are given the responsibility of carrying out the task of nation building. More so, the core values upon which the scheme is established are important ingredients for a better Nigeria and better leadership development. The value of patriotism, commitment, integrity, team work and efficiency are salient for nation building. Consequently, the activities embedded in the cause of completing the service scheme carried out by youth corps members are very much geared towards national development and lifting our dear country to a much greater height. Activities such as the Community Development Service, popularly referred to as CDS among many other activities, are part of the key roles youth corps members play to develop the nation. The scheme has many efficient and useful CDS groups through which the leadership skills and potentials of Nigerian youths are displayed in mostly positive lights. CDS group such as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Environmental Sanitation Group, Teaching and Tutorial groups, among others are avenues through which Nigerian youth corps members give their quota to the development of Nigeria.

Conclusively, I will like to encourage all my fellow corps members and prospective corps members that we have a whole lot to do as regards the development of our dear country. We have the responsibility of making our country greater in terms of economic, political and social development. Let us play our part, let us work hard, let us protect the image of our great country for this is our time to do so.

Richard Oluseye is a graduate of Philosophy from the Ivory Tower and Premier University, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Serving his fatherland in Kwara State with code number KW/14B/0413

Place of Primary Assignment: Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin West.

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